Last international match of the year: The German national handball team lost to Spain at the EHF Eurocup – and still convinced.
On Saturday evening (October 15th, 2022) Germany lost 31:32 (13:13) to Spain at the EHF Eurocup. The German selection almost equalized in the last second, but pivot Tim Zechel only hit the crossbar and not the goal.
“I’m very proud of the lads, it was a very strong performance. We even deserved to win the game. It was a much better performance than against Sweden two days ago.”, said national coach Alfred Gislason. The most successful thrower of his team was backcourt player Kai Häfner with nine goals.
Spain remains a feared opponent of the German handball players
The result came as no surprise as Germany had lost all four of their most recent games against Spain. Most recently, Germany won this duel at the 2019 World Cup, the national coach was still called Christian Prokop.
The national coach has long been called Gislason. Most recently, in the first game of this tournament, Gislason had to watch a 33:37 (16:19) defeat against Sweden. “It was very disappointing”Gislason said afterwards.
This time Gislason had no reason to be dissatisfied with his side’s performance. In contrast to the first game, the defense with the inner block Johannes Golla and Julian Köster was particularly convincing.
Slight errors on the offensive
On the offensive, on the other hand, slight mistakes crept in as the game went on. Spain quickly caught up with Germany’s first two-goal lead (10:8/20.) because the guests threw away too many balls. It was mainly thanks to goalkeeper Andreas Wolff that the game remained tight.
“We acted more confidently and had good phases in defence. Andreas Wolff nailed the goal shut.”praised DHB sports director Axel Kromer at halftime – and saw a short time later how his team continued to tighten the game despite a nervous restart.
Spain, Germany’s possible quarter-final opponents at the World Cup, now pushed the pace, led by exceptional player Alex Duschebayev. But Germany kept up and took the lead for the first time after the break at 22:21 (43 rd ). At 26:24 (38 th ) this grew to two hits, but the Spaniards came back in the heated final phase.
Two friendlies before the World Cup
For Germany’s handball players, the EHF Eurocup is something like a test run for the World Championships in Poland and Sweden (11th to 29th January 2023). At the World Cup, the DHB team will face Qatar (January 13), Serbia (January 15) and Algeria (January 17) in preliminary group E. The games will take place in Katowice.
The game against Spain was also the last international match of the year, the DHB team will test twice more against Iceland before the start of the World Cup at the beginning of next year.